“467”, she mumbles softly under her breath.

 

 

….

 

 

493

 

 

“Almost~.” Seungwan her tongue is peeking out between her lips ever so slightly in utmost concentration and her eyes are fixed on the glaring numbers on the scale, unwavering, as she taps the spoon lightly with her finger to add just a tiny bit more flour to the bowl.

 

500 grams

 

Content with the exact amount, she slowly releases a breath she didn’t know she was holding and puts the bowl aside to start working on the next step without pause. Just to confirm with herself that she remembered correctly she takes a quick look at her trusted recipe book while swiftly moving around to grab the next ingredient.

 

The thick, dark-blue notebook that faintly smells like cinnamon and vanilla has been with her for a long time, evidently. It is marked by buttery fingerprints and has a couple pages irreversibly stuck together by an unidentified sticky substance -her best guess, and most probable at that, is that it’s maple syrup-. An endless supply of crumbs also never fails to fall out whenever you turn a page and scribbly notes and doodles are aplenty, either for clarification or improvement for a specific step, or added simply for fun or out of boredom.

 

She has, after much internal debate, given up on trying to keep it neat and tidy. Clearly that boat sailed a long time ago. Instead, she tries not to make it much worse and refers to it as it ‘having character’ whenever Seulgi chuckles heartily and teases her about the state of her precious book, earning her an eyeroll and a light hit to the fingers when they nonetheless greedily reach out to grab the first of whatever she made with a big grin.

 

Seungwan has been steadily accumulating different recipes, from the simplest shortbread cookies and brownies to elaborate birthday cakes and the most difficult and delicate French pastries, ever since she started baking with her mom at a young age and she continued that hobby joyfully as she grew up. So much so that the same book she received as a gift from her mom many years ago is now almost bursting at the seams and barely holding everything together.

 

But over time it stopped being a book solely dedicated for baking. Some recipes for traditional Korean dishes, such as bulgogi, tteok-bokki, kimchi and sea weed soup, as well as various dishes she learned in Canada, gradually found their way in there as well. It started as a way to bring a little familiarity and comfort of home with her when she moved abroad and she also has a little bit of Canada with her back in Seoul now.

 

She has to admit that it wasn’t easy in the beginning. Going to a grocery store in the small town she lived in with her sister, trying to find all the specific ingredients necessary to pull off her mom’s dish when she felt a bit homesick. All without fully understanding the language yet. And for certain things you just have to know where to look as not everything is readily available at local farmers markets or regular big-chain grocery stores and she wandered through the seemingly endless aisles for quite some time before she realized that. Eyes fervently scanning the products on every shelf, from top to bottom, with the neatly written half English-half Korean grocery list held increasingly tighter to her chest the closer she got to the last aisle. Fifth-grade Seungwan may have been on the brink of tears the first time she went by herself, eyes glassy and her bottom lip caught between her teeth to stop its trembling, feeling overwhelmed and at the same time frustrated with herself and her inability to find a simple ingredient before she ultimately called her sister, incredibly distressed.

 

Together they found a solution, in part thanks to her skills in searching the internet but mostly her sister’s rational thinking and comforting words, and she felt much better after that. They ended up somewhat befriending a nice Korean elderly lady that owned a small shop in downtown Toronto that practically sold everything they couldn’t find in the other stores they tried. And so luckily, she didn’t experience the same stress every time she wanted to cook something from home.

 

Of course, grocery shopping is not such a difficult feat anymore. She’s older now, is much more used to shopping by herself –frankly somebody should stop her once in a while— and in a massive city like Seoul, that provides more opportunities and choices than one could ever imagine, at all times of the day, it’s not that hard to find anything, really. (Making decisions, however, can be challenging for her).

 

Which is also what enabled Seungwan to end up in her current situation, making kitchen sink cookies with various typical Canadian chocolates.

 

Having finally finished the very important task of preparing and exactly weighing all the flour, butter, sugars and other ingredients, Seungwan now visibly relaxes and like a switch has been turned, instantly and unconsciously starts softly humming under her breath once again, the melodious sound filling the open space of her kitchen.

 

Meanwhile, Seulgi is lazily leaning against the counter to the side as to not disturb Seungwan her process. With her arms crossed she just looks on, content to quietly watch her best friend move about her kitchen with ease. For now. The return of her humming draws special attention though, and a small smile starts tugging at the corner of her lips.

 

Because Seulgi is quite familiar with Seungwan her habits.

 

There’s always a certain level of sheer concentration and focus that accompanies the simple task of weighing the ingredients, a clear indication of the effort and dedication that Seungwan puts into her baking and this also never fails to put a temporary pause on her humming. The reproducibility of her deliciously baked goods has been proven countless of times and her friends, coworkers and neighbors – the lucky recipients of said treats who accept anything she surprises them with all too willingly— only deserve the best. So, naturally, she continues to diligently follow the recipe as a starting point.

 

But despite sticking to the basic recipe for the starting dough or batter, baking is also about creativity, which she finds in the form of adding new things and putting her own twist to it. By trying different flavor combinations and arguably most important and time-consuming in her case, decorating and wrapping them prettily.

 

This combination, with precise measurements and clear steps which she can comfortably and easily adhere to on the one hand and on the other the possibility to do whatever else she desires after that with a delicious outcome, is exactly why she loves baking so much. She likes the security of the instructions, they’re guidelines towards the right direction and it gives her a sense of comfort to know there’s no real chance of a disastrous outcome no matter what she does after that. It’s the best of both worlds in her opinion.

 

Truthfully, the delighted faces of her friends are also pretty high on the list of reasons and that may also be why she’s so easily persuaded by Yeri her gummy smile, Seulgi’s squinted eyes or Sooyoung’s eye-smile to make their personal favorites time and time again.

 

But even if they wouldn’t like her baking or cooking she would still continue because she loves it and the kitchen is one of the places where she loses track of time. The familiarity of her surroundings comforting in a way that allows her mind to wander. To process and (over-) think. Where she can make sense of situations and feelings. It’s only slightly different but still very much complementary to the escape that music provides her or the solace she feels during her long, aimless walks around the city.

 

Whenever her head is full of thoughts, ideas or worries, all demanding attention at the same time, she finds herself in the midst of her kitchen. Sometimes even in the middle of the night if the thoughts swirling around in her mind don’t extend her the luxury of an uninterrupted, soundless sleep. Admittedly, choosing the time-consuming and attention-demanding activity of baking is not beneficial for her sleeping rhythm at all, any hint of drowsiness fading away as soon as she turns all the lights back on. But as long as her head is clear afterwards, she can’t bring herself to think about it too much. And the added benefit of the mountain of baked goods that come out of each ‘session’ has also never been a problem as her love for baking and cooking matches particularly well with Seulgi’s infinite appetite. Plus, Seulgi had to live without them for a long time when she was abroad so she’s hell bent on making full use of it now, never letting an opportunity to eat them and praise her pass by. Simultaneously if necessary – actually not unusual.

 

Clearly, she has made up for lost time a while ago if you ask her. Seulgi has munched away quite a few stress-cookies and -cakes –especially when she just moved back and struggled with getting used to Korean again– and even more of her non-stress induced baking and cooking since then.

 

Either way, her best friend somehow always has impeccable timing, arriving exactly when she’s making something, with the exception of the middle of the night of course. As a result, she has often joked that it must be her sense of smell, like a bear, and Seulgi’s expression upon hearing that, her eyes squinted in to familiar crescent moons, cheeks rounding up adorably and the characteristic wide, beaming smile taking over her face, only prove and emphasize that.

 

She has happily kept her company in the kitchen for many hours, always patient and never pushing or intruding. Just being a supportive and calm presence, naturally reading her expressions and sensing whether she should keep mum and give her space for a little bit until she’s ready to share her worries and thoughts, or can start their usual chatter like normal.

 

Apart from this and gladly devouring her cookies afterwards, Seulgi sometimes also enthusiastically offers (read: persuades her, albeit easily) to help her with decorating, ready to temporarily exchange her usual trusted brush and pencil for a piping bag with icing sugar or edible paint and letting her creativity go wild on a different sort of medium. And even though she’s usually not the one who created the biggest mess in those situations, Seulgi never fails to help her clean the kitchen afterwards. The two of them moving in unison to return it to its original tidy and clean state quickly. Not dissimilar to Seungwan her own mind by the end of it, now that she thinks about it.

 

She learned early on in their friendship that Seulgi is genuinely kind and helpful like that.

 

But it doesn’t seem like Seulgi’s very interested in such things today. She seems preoccupied. She has been feeling Seulgi’s eyes on her for a while, slowly burning a hole on the side of her head, but that’s not what pushes her to finally regard her best friend now that she’s done with the pressing task of weighing. It’s the addition of the soft mumbling that catches her attention and the fact that she’s standing in front of the fridge and blocking her way to put the dough away to chill.

 

She rolls her eyes while smiling and pokes Seulgi’s side softly to get her to move. “What are you doing?” she asks curiously.

 

Seulgi flinches and abruptly stops her soft singing before fully registering what is happening and taking a small step sideways to let her pass, simultaneously moving away from the ticklish, prodding finger. She smiles teasingly as she fully turns and locks eyes with her. “Obviously I’m coming up with the lyrics to your lovely melody.”

 

“Seul, I do appreciate the effort but there’s really no need because it already has lyrics, you know. Very nice ones actually. I sent you the link, remember?”

 

She watches as Seulgi contemplates this, her brows furrowed in deep thought. She’s zoning out, her eyes a little unfocused as she looks at a particularly interesting part of her white wall and no doubt goes through the endless list of songs she sent her in just the last two weeks alone. A few more seconds pass before her eyes light up in recognition. “Ah~! It did sound kind of familiar.” She shrugs dismissively. “I guess I forgot.”

 

Seungwan nods to herself in confirmation. It’s definitely not the first time this has happened. “That’s very plausible”, she adds, amused.

 

Seulgi and song lyrics are not always a perfect match, but nonetheless very entertaining. Melodies are usually no problem but sometimes she just forgets or hears the wrong words. Even when they go to Karaoke together, she’ll confidently sing her own version of the lyrics, not deterred in the slightest by the correct answer presented right in front of her.

 

They may not always get the highest score but they make up for that in laughter afterwards and it has occurred often enough for it to become an inside-joke between them and an extra challenge: to consciously and subtly (or not so subtly) change some words in songs and see if they can get away with it.

 

She chuckles lightly as a particular memory comes to mind, prompting the other to look up from her phone playing the song she had been humming before and eye her warily.

 

With a wide grin stretching her lips almost painfully she starts talking, playfully and teasing. “Say… do you by chance still remember the Beyo–”

 

“Ugh”, Seulgi groans loudly, effectively interrupting her before she can even get to the good part.

 

“Nooo~, I knew you were going to bring that up again”, Seulgi whines while slumping her body over the counter in an attempt to hide from embarrassment. ”You’ll never forget this, will you? I’m going to have to endure this for the rest of my life!”

 

Seungwan only laughs good-naturedly at the exaggerated reaction. “Oh, come on, let me have this please. Just thinking about it makes me happy. It was so funny, the original yes-jam moment.”

 

“Well, I’d rather you be happy thinking about me, like normally, and not because of that.”

 

“Who says I can’t do both?”, she quips as she pets the others head lightly. She laughs heartily when Seulgi only heaves a deep sigh in response.

 

“I told you, I only heard the bridge and I really, really thought she said that.” Seulgi mutters, looking up from her splayed out position with a small pout, her cheeks sporting a faint pink color from replaying that particular memory and trying to (once again) explain what happened. But after a few seconds she can’t help herself and starts smiling as well, mirroring the amused one on her best friends’ face.

 

“She even said paper so I thought she was telling me that education is important and all…”, she trails off.

 

Anybody who knows Seulgi is aware of the fact that she loves Beyoncé. Dearly. Which is why it was extra surprising that exactly one of her songs became a victim of Seulgi’s acrobatic jumble with lyrics, where ‘get in formation’ somehow turned into ‘get information’. A wheezing, sleep-deprived Seungwan on the other side of the phone, the screen showing the bland, white ceiling after being tossed away in favor of holding her shaking body, was not at all what Seulgi expected when she called her, intending to share her excitement after hearing a snippet.

 

“Why are you so cute, Seulgi-ah?” Seungwan wonders out loud, more to herself than anyone else. Even after so many years of friendship, she’s still discovering new charms every once in a while. Like an endless list that just keeps on growing the more you truly know her.

 

Seulgi just rolls her eyes and playfully shrugs.

 

Then before she has time to fully register what is happening Seulgi stands up abruptly and puts an arm around her shoulders, startling her. “So~…. now that were talking about cute and things that make you happy…”, Seulgi says with a mischievous smile, a certain lilt to her voice and eyes shimmering from excitement and pride in having found a way out of her own predicament and effortlessly transitioning the interrogation onto the other woman. Which is much more interesting. “We have much more important things to talk about”, she finishes excitedly and Seungwan gets unceremoniously dragged away.

 

She’s a little surprised and apprehensive of the sudden change in attitude that Seulgi displays.

 

Fidgety hands tug at her apron and once it’s removed it gets haphazardly thrown onto the counter in haste. When it consequently makes a dramatic and very unfortunate slide off of said counter onto the floor, puffs of flour now dancing in the air and settling in every unreachable place, Seulgi looks backwards slightly apologetically before resuming her ushering and tuning out her protests.

 

Once they somewhat comfortably settle on the couch -as comfortable as she can be when she knows the look Seulgi’s giving her all too well- Seungwan decides to play dumb, as if she has no idea what she’s referring to.

 

“Hmm?”

 

She would be lying if she said that Seulgi excitement doesn’t make her a tad bit nervous. But she knew it was coming honestly. It was only a matter of time and she’s just mentally congratulating herself that it’s only Seulgi. The other woman may have thought that she was subtle in her observations but she knows her too well for that. Still, she was foolishly hoping she could delay it even though some part of her is also maybe the tiniest bit relieved that she can talk about.

 

Seungwan chews the inside of her cheek nervously and runs a hand through her hair, already sorting through the many recurrent images of Joohyun that have been flashing through her mind continuously. She tries (desperately) to filter herself and tells herself not disclose too much of what she’s feeling after yesterday and spill everything about how she really enjoyed her company. Although that may be a little difficult.

 

She is known to ramble and usually it doesn’t necessarily take a whole lot of effort to get her to that point, sometimes none at all. Depending on the topic, her reluctance wavers with persistent, well-timed nudges from her friends on the best of days. And just thinking about Joohyun has kept her occupied this whole Sunday, a nice warm feeling spreading throughout her body and a lazy smile effortlessly finding its way to her face and making her cheeks ache. She’s not exactly on the top of her game in managing her emotions at the moment. The woman’s gentle smile, soft-voice and hypnotizingly dark, doe-like eyes with that playful shimmer, and the memory of how she scrunches her nose and laughs surprisingly loud, unrestrained while throwing her head back without a care in the world, has been haunting her every thought. It’s very nice and incredibly distracting.

 

She shuts her eyes briefly, leans back into the couch and takes a deep breath, willing herself to temporarily stop those thoughts even though the darkness only intensifies the images in her mind.

 

It’s futile.

 

But she’s determined to prove them wrong today. She won’t reveal everything. She is not always a ‘too-much-talker’.

 

“You’re particularly cheerful today”, Seulgi states simply, cutting through her silence with a knowing smile.

 

She opens one eye tentatively to meet the curious gaze of her best friend before she hums in agreement. “Sundays are nice”, she says ambiguously.

 

“Yeah? Or is it the power of loveee~?”

 

She moves her head so fast even Seulgi is momentarily taken aback as she fully turns to her, baffled. “W-what? Seulgi… that’s… No. Just no”, she stutters out.

 

“Uh-huh.” Seulgi is determined, nodding her head while smiling wickedly as she puts a hand on her shoulder. “Wannie, you have what the youth calls these days the hots for her.”

 

She feels herself instantly blush with slightly agape and eyes wide. “I-I do not! What makes you think that? I don’t-…. I-I have normal temperature feelings about her”, she protests quickly, eyes darting around the room rapidly to locate the nearest exit in her own apartment. She’d like to believe that she was at least a little prepared for Seulgi’s questions and actually thinking of somewhat giving in to the situation, but she didn’t expect a teasing Seulgi to make an appearance. However, thinking back she should have known. She’s always extra quick to react and pick up on things whenever she’s met up with her brother, her teasing energy lingering for a while after. Now, for her it’s unfortunate that this time their meeting coincided with the day of her date, giving Seulgi every opportunity (and good reason) to focus all her attention and teasing on her right now.

 

Seulgi only snickers, amused by her inability to form a coherent response. She waves a finger accusingly. “Ah, so you’re admitting you have feelings for her!”

 

“SEULGI!!!”, she gasps in a mix of a squeak and a whine before sliding down the couch and hiding her face behind the first available pillow. Great. Just great. Apparently, she’s doing an even worse job at hiding her state than she already thought. If it were possible, she would like to disappear into thin air to leave this whole situation to be dealt with another time. Preferably when she’s fully prepared and a little more clear-headed instead of her current situation, where she’s dealing with the heavy Joohyun-induced daze she’s gotten stuck in (willingly she might add, very willingly) and after a reasonable amount of time, so she can fully enjoy the mix of warm feelings. By herself.

 

But hiding will have to do for now, just a couple seconds to recuperate and try to brace herself for the onslaught of questions. In the absence of Seulgi’s inquisitive eyes that see right through her façade, courtesy of years of close friendship.

 

“I’m helping you Wan-ah”, Seulgi coos softly while settling besides her, lifting the pillow ever so slightly to take a quick look at her carefully.

 

“You’ve been watching way~ too many movies”, she mutters.

 

“Nope, I know you too well not to notice. I may have poor eyesight but I can see this very clearly. This is happy baking and you haven’t told me anything yet. You always immediately text me when it was horrible so that means yesterday wasn’t horrible. Pretty good actually, if I’m judging by your panicked reaction”, Seulgi reasons smugly. She looks incredibly proud of her deduction.

 

She boops her nose and Seungwan can’t help but return a small smile hesitantly. Seulgi isn’t wrong after all, she hit the nail right on the head actually.

 

“You’re thinking about it. A lot…. I told you it would be nice, didn’t I?”

 

She sighs, her reluctance slowly dissipating as Seulgi looks at her curiously, a little calmer than before. “Yeah, yeah, fine. You were right. Happy?”, she says quietly as a small smile starts tugging at the corner of her lips.

 

Seulgi smiles brightly, eyes calm but shining in excitement. “Only if you are happy.”

 

“Hmm. That’s one way to put it”, she mumbles, almost a whisper.

 

“So, you can tell me about it, if you want. How did it go? What’s she like? Was it friendly?”

 

She almost snorts and moves up to sit more comfortably, turning to the other woman. “I would say it was definitely a little more than just friendly.”

 

Sure, the first couple minutes it was more friendly than anything else, still testing the waters, but the other woman made her intentions quite clear, leaving no time for her to be oblivious or hesitant about it for the rest of the night.

 

She clears awkwardly, ridding herself of the lingering thought of teasing smirks and toothy grins. “It’s definitely the best first date I’ve had.” Not that that was very difficult she adds in her mind.

 

“And hopefully the last one?”

 

“Ugh-, I’m not saying that yet. But she’s so nice Seulgi and so pretty. She’s funny and kind too and I made a fool of myself within the first five minutes but she thought it was cute”, she says shily.

 

“Of course, nobody can resist my cute Wannie! Has she seen these super squishy cheeks?”

 

Just when Seulgi reaches out to touch said cheeks –again... as if she isn’t only 11 days younger– after engulfing her in a celebratory hug that feels a little early given the situation, the other woman’s eyes unmistakably shining in utter delight and amusement, she is saved by Seulgi’s phone blowing up with notifications. It catches both their attention and Seulgi stops just short, hand hovering in the air in front of Seungwan’s face a little disappointed. She moves away slowly to pick up her phone, curious as to the cause of the interruption.

 

Seungwan was about to take this time to come up with and rehearse some easy answers to possible questions that Seulgi might ask next but the other woman already turns to her again after rapidly scanning the incoming messages.

 

“Oh-oh, Seungwan-ah prepare yourself, we have an ETA of 2 minutes”, Seulgi says as she locks the phone quickly and puts it aside, her face morphing into an unreadable expression.

 

Seungwan furrows her brows and she looks at her utterly confused, head slightly tilted as she thinks about it. “ETA? Estimated time of arrival? What about it?”

 

Maybe Seulgi has been watching too many movies, she notes.

 

Seulgi nods slowly, serious as she eyes her intently, gauging her reaction as if she’s delivering grave news. “Sooyoung will be here in 2 minutes.”

 

Oh god.

 

Instinctively she grips the pillow tighter and her eyes bulge out in shock. Slowly she turns away from Seulgi to stare in the direction of the door vacantly. “Okay”, she breathes out after a couple seconds, almost a whisper.

 

Now, it’s not that she would categorize this feeling that instantly creeps up on her as fear necessarily, but there’s no question that Sooyoung can definitely be scarier and more persistent in her approach to get information from her compared to Seulgi. She is a force to be reckoned with when she knows what she wants and cunning enough to coax her easily, sweettalking her until the point where she’s basically mush and will spill any and all secrets she tries to keep closest to her heart. It’s more of thisrealization and the fact that Sooyoung, as opposed to Seulgi, is close to Joohyun unnie……

 

“At least you don’t have to repeat yourself?” Seulgi provides (un)helpfully, trying to lift the mood. She gently pries Seungwan her hand from the pillow and squeezes it reassuringly. ”Don’t worry about it, she’s just curious. They’re rooting for you, you know.”

 

She sighs and rolls her eyes. “No expectations….. yeah right.”

 

There’s not much more time to stress or get nervous about the arrival of the even more inquisitive member of their group of friends. Because before Seulgi can continue to justify their interest in her love life and make her feel a little more at ease with the situation she has found herself in, they hear the rattling of the key in the lock and subsequently see Sooyoung enter calmly with a huge, warm smile in place.

 

“My favorite unnies, it’s so good to see you. How wonderful is it that we are all gathered here today, I wonder why?” Sooyoung smiles mischievously as she quickly takes off her coat and shoes, wasting no time.

 

Seungwan releases a breath and rolls her eyes while Seulgi greets her enthusiastically. At least Sooyoung’s calmer than she expected. She follows the others every move as she makes her way over to join them on the couch, squeezing between them so that they’re cuddled up snugly. At least she’s not pushing me into the middle, Seungwan thinks to herself.

 

The taller girl pats her knee lightly and laughs as she feels her tense up from the sudden action. She bumps their shoulders. “Jeez, unnie relax. It’s just me. You don’t have to worry about me, Yeri is literally screaming at me over text so prepare yourself for that mess later.” She waves her hand dismissively, as if that gives her any reassurance at all.

 

She’s a little uncomfortable, the gratitude she felt towards them for letting her meet their unnie earlier is slowly put to the back of her mind as she looks at the other two hesitantly. She frowns. “Why does this start to feel like I’m being questioned? Or interrogated….”

 

Somewhere deep down she knows (and keeps reminding herself) that it’s all because they care about her and want her to do well and be happy, but she still can’t help but feel nervous of their expectant gazes on her and whatever happens between Joohyun and herself. Logically they want to know how it went, that’s reasonable, she expected as much when she agreed to go on a date with their unnie. But do they really have to team up for this, though? Less than 24 hours after first meeting her?

 

She tells herself that going for a long walk would have been better than trapping herself in her apartment to bake, where it’s easy for everyone to come find her, like a stupid invitation for them to just waltz right into her place.

 

“You’re not. We’re your emotional support group. Two great pillars and a mascot puppy a.k.a. Kim Yerim.”

 

She scoffs. “You just think I’m the easiest. Like I will just tell you everything”, she retorts while Seulgi only chuckles at the comparison.

 

Sooyoung watches her, gaze softening before she shakes her head. “No, I’m only curious unnie. You haven’t been on a date in a while and I only want to know how it went, nothing more.” Sooyoung looks at her innocently, batting her eyelashes rapidly for emphasis.

 

“See I told you”, Seulgi happily cuts in, oblivious to the way the other woman’s previously perfectly still, expression-less eyebrows immediately start to wiggle teasingly as she turns her head to be hidden from her line of sight.

 

“Look, I’m not forcing you to tell me but I promise that anything you say won’t leave this room.”

 

Seungwan sighs, a miniscule pout making its way to her lips as she relents. “Alright, go on. Hit me with it, ask your stupid questions before I change my mind.”

 

What follows is a quick, over-excited exchange of high-fives and incomprehensible gibberish from her friends and she rolls her eyes, then clears pointedly.

 

They turn back to her more seriously. “Okay, first, how was the restaurant, unnie?

 

“Oh yeah, I looked the place up before you went, from the pictures it seemed really nice. Good food too.”

 

“You’re asking me about the restaurant? The restaurant… seriously?“ She rubs her temples to ease her frustration. Dancing around the topic won’t work now.

 

“Fine, clearly you don’t appreciate our attempt at easing you into the conversation so I’ll just skip to what I actually want to talk about. How was the date with Joohyun unnie?”

 

“It was really good.”

 

Seulgi smiles brightly, eyes scrunched while she looks at her encouragingly. “I’m glad Seungwan-ah.”

 

“Tell me everything.” Sooyoung demands playfully, her lips stretched in a wide smile and the glint in her eyes revealing she clearly already forgot her earlier statement of wanting to know ‘nothing more’.

 

Seungwan feels herself start to smile and with that give in to the temptation of telling them a little more. After all, happiness and excitement are meant to be shared right? Just a little bit this time though, some bits and pieces. Enough to indulge them and get them off her back. She starts talking before she can stop herself, undoubtedly grinning like an idiot, her defenses slightly lowered. “You know, I don’t kiss and tell but-“

 

“You KISSED?!” Seulgi and Sooyoung gasp, cutting her off almost in unison and they look at her wide-eyed, incredibly shocked.

 

If she didn’t already have their undivided attention before, then this sure as hell made them fully focus on her.

 

“W-w-what?” she stutters, taken aback at the sudden loud and excited interruption. “Of course not!” she hisses as he shushes them. “Are you crazy? It’s only a first date, I-I can’t just do that.” She’s scrambling for the right words to explain herself. “…It’s just an expression.”

 

“Oh….” Sooyoung almost sounds disappointed, face faltering a little. It only lasts a split second and she changes her mind on her approach quickly, hardening her expression. “Well, then you should say it differently! You can’t just say stuff like that and not expect us to react. I’m emotionally invested in you two.”

 

“I wasn’t even done talking”, she protests, crossing her arms defensively and looking away.

 

“So…. no kissing?” Seulgi asks for clarification, looking between her friends’ faces slowly to read the room.

 

“No. Just talking”, Seungwan says with an eyeroll.

 

“You’re keeping it old-school. That’s fine, I would guess that’s more both of your styles anyway. But just admit that you thought about it, I won’t tell her.” Sooyoung states with a sly smile.

 

“I-… maybe.” She hides her face in her hands and lets out a frustrated groan.

 

Seulgi comes to her rescue. She’s highly entertained by what’s playing out in front of her but she can’t help but feel a bit guilty towards Seungwan, who now is blushing profusely. “Yah, Sooyoungie stop playing with her.”

 

“It’s a good question though”, Sooyoung grumbles but she lets it go when Seulgi looks at her in warning and flicks her on the forehead when she still protests a little. She rolls her eyes as she turns to Seungwan again, raising an eyebrow questioningly before she continues. “Okay so not kiss and tell but you were saying?”

 

Seungwan releases a long, bottled up sigh that roughly symbolizes everything that’s going on inside her that she can’t quite put into comprehensible words yet. “I was going to say that it was really good. She is really nice and cute. We have quite a lot in common too so we had a good time and she’s easy to talk to. We’re seeing each other again.”

 

“Did you use any of your charms on her?”

 

She shrugs. “I guess I tried? I also gave her some flowers and she started blushing really bad.” That the blushing was partly – if not totally – a result of what her brain decided to blurt out without filtering it beforehand is not something she’s going to share. She was extremely flustered and her embarrassment was only lessened by the response she got from Joohyun.

 

But Seulgi knows her almost scarily well. She eyes her up and down before asking, smiling mysteriously. “What did you say?”

 

Unconsciously she starts to grin. “It’s a secret.” She winks playfully. “Even I didn’t know I was going to say that. But then apparently, I give quite a lot of compliments when I don’t even know it?”

 

“You’re so greasy.”

 

“Actually,” she interjects. “Joohyun unnie is the one that is really smooth.”

 

“Greasy and smooth are way different though.”

 

She only responds with a contemplative hum in favor of saying more. What Joohyun said made her heart flutter, while when she says something greasy (intended or not) a lot of people just cringe, second-hand embarrassment immediately coming over them and overpowering any other emotion. But she knows she won’t win this argument, like the mint-chocolate debate, so she changes the topic, deciding it is time to get answers from the youngest for a change.

 

“By the way, you told me she was shy.”

 

“She wasn’t shy? Like not at all?”, Sooyoung asks surprised.

 

“Not really.”

 

Sooyoung thinks about it for a little bit, lips pursed in concentration. “She can be cold or distant to new people. And because she’s quite shy she has this poker face on which makes her even more unreadable. Sometimes even scary.”

 

“Well, I don’t know what that’s like because she was pretty… ehm,” Seungwan swallows awkwardly as she looks away. “not-cold”, she finishes softly.

 

Seulgi laughs at her. “That’s good then. I guess you just made her comfortable.”

 

“Yeah, maybe that and let’s just say that I had quite the ice breaker. Unintentionally but still, takes the nerves off a little bit.”

 

“If it weren’t for your awards, I seriously wouldn’t believe you if you told me you participated in the debate club. Like how?”, Sooyoung deadpans.

 

“It’s different”, she argues. “I had so many arguments prepared and I never had to stand in front of and suddenly talk to some out of this world pretty girl that might be interested in me. Usually their faces are all red and they were too busy trying to tear my head off figuratively. So, you know, that’s not really my style.”

 

“So, what did you guys talk about then?” Seulgi asks casually.

 

“Wouldn’t you like to know”, she says cheekily, finally realizing she’s actually the one that has all the answers that they want and that, ultimately, they’re at her mercy and dependent on whether she want to disclose more about the date and the other woman. Which she doesn’t. Yet. They can’t actually force her to talk more.

 

Sooyoung throws her hands up in despair and huffs frustratedly. “Oh my god unnie, you are already hiding things from us. You guys fit so well together.”

 

“We’re definitely onto something here.”

 

Seungwan fiddles with a loose thread that she just discovered on the armrest of the couch, deliberately looking away from their inquisitive stares. “Sure, she’s nice.”

 

“No Wannie, I mean you like like her. As in-“

 

“I know what you meant, I said she’s very cute.”

 

Sooyoung grins. “You said nice before though.”

 

“Yeah, well maybe she’s both”, she replies.

 

Definitely both. More than that as well she muses to herself.

 

 

 

** As mentioned before, feel free to let me know your thoughts or comments or anything really ;) **